Disney on a dime....

[PrincessTeresa]

What is the cheapest you've done Disney? We do it cheap every time. Well, we try to at least. We spend the most on souviners! LOL

We leave in 3 days - here is what our breakdown (budget) is looking like


$200 Gas and Tolls
$800 Tickets (for 3 adult base tickets) - I also rounded this amount
$250 Hotel (DMom got a super cheap rate off property - ie.'old folks' discount!)
$50 a day for food and snacks x 7 days = 350 (we share alot of our meals - and only do CS - and eat off property for breakfast and dinner)
$14/day parking x 7 = $98
----------
$ 1698 Total


Of course I didn't budget souviners - We tend to go a little overboard on those -


What does your budget look like? What am I forgetting?

 

[spiceycat]

well own DVC and annual pass - so that means transportation and food - have a Honda- so around $120 for gas - have a sun pass for tolls - so $6 (probably less)

groceries can do for around $50 to $75 for a 5 day stay.

shortly will be alot closer to WDW - so tranportation costs will go down.

 

[Purseval]

We generally stay in a hotel booked through Priceline from the low 30's to the mid 40's depending on what time of year we go. We don't figure out the cost of gas but it's about 400 miles from our house. We haven't paid for WDW tickets since they changed over to that "Magic Your Way" scam, we get our tickets by attending timeshare presentations. We buy food onsite with Disney Reward Dollars but we rarely eat anything onsite since it's overpriced. We buy food from the local grocery stores or bring it along with us. I don't ever keep a total but it's not a lot of money. We have annual passes to Universal Studios that cost about $150/year to renew and we come down to Orlando 2-4 times/yr. Last visit was in March, next one is July.

We ocassionally splurge, usually when we have company along. For instance our next trip will include 2 nights at Hard Rock Hotel so we can get FOTL access for the new Harry Potter attraction. When we come by ourselves it's always frugal and, since we come so often, we have the free time to visit lots of timeshares and save up tickets for the times when we have guests. Our last visit in March we treated our company to a night at the Hard Rock, paid for entirely in Universal Dollars we received by (you guessed it) taking timeshare presentations. We'll be paying real dollars this time around but while the kids (they are old enough to be in the parks on their own) are spending the morning flying on broomsticks we'll be looking at timeshares so they can get a free day at the Magic Kingdom.

If we have children coming who are young enough to even care about souvenirs we keep an eye out at yard sales then dole them out during the trip. They couldn't care less where they came from they are thrilled to have them. So our souvenir budget is miniscule. We did have to buy a new autograph book, we got that at Michaels for $1 plus another 50 cents for a lanyard. Those deals, btw, came via a tip we read about in this forum. So keep reading and looking for deals.

 

[MomofSixinSC]

So here is how our budget breaks down:
4 nights at Fort Wilderness Campground in the value season = $198 (incl. tx)
All meals cooked at campsite = same price as eating at home = $0
One day at MK using GAD vouchers = $76.50 (for 3yo, who was too young to volunteer)
Other days spent at campground, DTD, or touring other hotels = $0

Total cost = $274.50

This is for 8 people. It does not include gas, but a friend has told us he bought a gas card for us for the trip to help defray those costs.

 

[PrincessTeresa]

I love all these fun ways to save and all the ideas y'all are giving me!!

 

[foreUT]

We generally stay in a hotel booked through Priceline from the low 30's to the mid 40's depending on what time of year we go. We don't figure out the cost of gas but it's about 400 miles from our house. We haven't paid for WDW tickets since they changed over to that "Magic Your Way" scam, we get our tickets by attending timeshare presentations. We buy food onsite with Disney Reward Dollars but we rarely eat anything onsite since it's overpriced. We buy food from the local grocery stores or bring it along with us. I don't ever keep a total but it's not a lot of money. We have annual passes to Universal Studios that cost about $150/year to renew and we come down to Orlando 2-4 times/yr. Last visit was in March, next one is July.

We ocassionally splurge, usually when we have company along. For instance our next trip will include 2 nights at Hard Rock Hotel so we can get FOTL access for the new Harry Potter attraction. When we come by ourselves it's always frugal and, since we come so often, we have the free time to visit lots of timeshares and save up tickets for the times when we have guests. Our last visit in March we treated our company to a night at the Hard Rock, paid for entirely in Universal Dollars we received by (you guessed it) taking timeshare presentations. We'll be paying real dollars this time around but while the kids (they are old enough to be in the parks on their own) are spending the morning flying on broomsticks we'll be looking at timeshares so they can get a free day at the Magic Kingdom.

If we have children coming who are young enough to even care about souvenirs we keep an eye out at yard sales then dole them out during the trip. They couldn't care less where they came from they are thrilled to have them. So our souvenir budget is miniscule. We did have to buy a new autograph book, we got that at Michaels for $1 plus another 50 cents for a lanyard. Those deals, btw, came via a tip we read about in this forum. So keep reading and looking for deals.

How do you find timeshares that provide tickets?

 

[TnTWalter]

so our budget is obviously more than yours....

We went last summer for a week.

$450 Windsor Hills 3 bedroom Condo [fantastic!]
$1000 7 day base tix through Undercover Tourist
$98 parking [$14 * 7 Parking [easy peasy]
$407 Restaurant Meals On and Offsite
$196 groceries and guesstimate of $100 from home [GROCERY also had autograph books, toiletries, etc. included in that and I took much to Anna Maria for the next week]...
$100 total on souveniers

= $2348 total for a week
and technically you don't count groceries as you'd buy them anyway....
so more like
$2000 for a week for 3 Adults and 2 children

I'm not including travel expenses as it depends on where you're coming from, if you're stopping along way, etc.

And you need gas while there but not much....


RESTAURANTS $407 from eating out....

ONSITE

$35. Studios catering. Good healthy options and cheap!

Magic Kingdom
Breakfast.
$120. Crystal Palace Breakfast Nice big buffet character meal.

Late Lunch.
$8 Pinnochio Village. Great yummy salad for me.
$28 Village Fry Shop. Hubby and kids had hot dogs and fries.

Animal Kingdom.
Yak and Yeti Counter Service Lunch. Yummy. Good choices.
$31 for all 5. Great deal.

Gerti's soft serve ice cream.
$9 for 4.

EPCOT
$36 Sunshine Seasons Great beet & goat cheese salad for me. Mmm. Mmm. My oldest had a great Chicken Veggie wrap she enjoyed. She had caesar dressing to dip it in. Other 2 had kids meals [1 was pbj meal deal; 1 was kid sub sandwich deal]. Hubby had big Italian sandwich.

OFFSITE
$41 Earl of Sandwich. 3 kid sandwiches, 3 small strawberry shortcakes, 1 milk, 4 small sodas [splurge] 2 adult sandwiches.

$41 Logan Steak House. We went on Tuesday. I believe the deal is on Monday and Tuesday. Fabulous food and service for cheap! That's after tip!

$58. OUCH. Giordano's Pizza. But kids loved the deep dish. We also got a thin pizza and a couple adult drinks I think...


TRISH

 

[Purseval]

How do you find timeshares that provide tickets?

Every hotel in Orlando has a ticket desk in the lobby, that is the easiest way since you are right there. You can also go along the major highways (192, I-Drive, etc.) and see kiosks that sell attraction tickets, they all push timeshare resorts (generally avoid these but there is one outside of Orange Lake, another near Windsor Hills that pushes Mystic Dunes tours and a decent one at the intersection of 192 and 535 that we have gone into). You can also find them on Ebay with a search for Disney tickets and via a Google search for discount tickets.

Universal Studios has timeshare tour kiosks inside the parks. Since we have annual passes it's easy for us to just go in, sign up for a tour either that day or the next morning and leave. These are the same companies that you will see in the hotels and in Orland but you obviously won't get any WDW tickets there. You get Universal dollars, Blue Man Group tickets, free meal deals, etc.

DVC also has kiosks in WDW parks and DTD but they offer something worthless like free ice cream. If you think it's worth giving up a portion of your day in a park to have an ice cream cone then more power to you. No way for us.

 

[tinkmom2]

This last time was the cheapest we have ever gone but we only went for 4 nights 3 days right before our Disney cruise last November.

Free Dining plus one TS $900 ate at Cosmic Rays, Akershus, Teppan Edo, Sanaa, PoP food court etc..
DME to resort included in price also
preferred room at PoP
plus 1 additional day park ticket for 4 (included in the $900)went to Epcot
Money for tips $75.00
MVMCP Tickets for 4 $250.00
Airfare roundtrip for 4 $1000.00 could have saved a lot of money if we would have waited
Souvies maybe $50.00
-----------------------------------
$2500.00 approx cost with airfare

Leg two of our trip
Limo to and from Port $250.00
$30 tip
3 day bounceback cruise on the wonder $700.00 approx in a catagory 6 including tax (our 4 day cost about $4000.00 in the same catagory)
tips, spending money, one excursion and a lot of budgeting $500.00
day room at the MCO Hyatt $99.00
-----------------
$1600.00